PROPOSED DISPOSAL OF HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS ENTERPRISE’S CAIRNGORM ESTATE A POSITION PAPER BY AND FOR THE CAIRNGORMS CAMPAIGN This Paper is Supported by:- The Ramblers Association The North East Mountain Trust The National Trust for Scotland Rural Scotland Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group John Muir Trust Mountaineering Council of Scotland December 2005 1 PROPOSED DISPOSAL OF HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS ENTERPRISE’S CAIRNGORM ESTATE A POSITION PAPER BY AND FOR THE CAIRNGORMS CAMPAIGN Summary Glenmore, including the HIE estate, forms the buffer zone between major tourist developments of Aviemore/A9 corridor and the Central Cairngorms. It follows that the whole of Glenmore, including the HIE estate, form a key land unit with respect to both the protection of the Central Cairngorms and the tourist industry Since this larger area encompasses much of the Cairngorms National Park, the management of this key land unit is a core issue for the Cairngorms National Park to successfully meet its four basic functions. The management of the HIE Estate as part of this buffer zone has been, and continues to be, particularly contentious To avoid a continuation of this, management of the Estate will require the most skilled and careful supervision and direction. Collectively, the HIE Estate plus that of the Forestry Commission for Scotland (FCS) have high inherent scientific, conservation, recreational, educational and landscape values. In these capacities, the two landholdings function as a single land unit. It, therefore, follows that they should be managed as one. Hence it would be logical for them to be under single ownership. Due to an initial approach that focused exclusively on development, the lack of skills in developing within a fragile mountain environment by the then Cairngorm Chairlift Company and others, the area has a history of more acute and prolonged conflicts than any other area in Scotland. These conflicts have spilt onto the national political stage. There remains considerable potential scope for further major conflict. If follows that any new owner would have to be able to deal with current and future conflicting interests. Therefore the basic balance between conservation of the resource and its development, and hence the terms on which the land is held, will be of key importance. Under any future landowner, 1) The status of the whole of Glenmore, including the Cairngorm Estate and the Forestry Commission Scotland Estate on the lower ground, must be recognised, as A KEY LAND UNIT in the conservation of the Cairngorms and the sustainable management of the Badenoch and Strathspey tourist. 2) The high inherent values of the area for conservation, recreation, landscape and education at both national and international levels must also be recognised and the land managed accordingly 3) The terms on which the land is held must include a strong conservation remit. 2 4) The whole of Glenmore must be managed as a single entity. 5) This integration of planning should extend beyond Glenmore to include neighbouring landholdings. 6) The full range of stakeholders should be involved in the management. 7) Any future landowner must understand the main conservation issues of the area, have the proven knowledge of how to manage them, and be able to carry the considerable financial burden of managing the area. 8) The responsibility and financial burden for removing the current structures should remain with Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) and/or HIE. 9) The choice of landowner and the terms of the remit should be decided under ministerial overview. 3 1.0 Introduction This paper sets out the views of the Cairngorms Campaign on the future ownership and management of the Cairngorms Estate currently owned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It describes the functions and values of the land within the estate, examines briefly the history of land use and conflicts in the area over the past 60 years, and derives conclusions and recommendations for its disposal and management. In arriving at its conclusions, the Campaign has drawn upon the following sources of information:- 1.1 Its members’ detailed knowledge of the Glenmore basin and of the wider Cairngorms. 1.2 Its members’ close experience of the history of the area over the last sixty or more years. 1.3 Information on the history of a. the development as given in Watson (1), in his report on the history and development of the Glenmore Forest Park b. the protective designations in the area by Watson et al.(2) in their report to the WWF in 1995 1.4 The detailed information on the scientific value of the area provided in the report by Watson et al. (2). 1.5 Its members’ knowledge of the conclusions and recommendations on the principles and research findings on the successful balancing between protection of natural resources and sustainable tourism development in mountains elsewhere in the world. We would emphasise that, within Glenmore, the Estate is historically the upper half of the Glenmore Forest Park and, for various reasons made clear in section 2.2, consideration of the two halves cannot be separated. The values and future of the Cairngorms Estate are therefore considered in conjunction with lower Glenmore, including eastern parts of Rothiemurchus. 4 2.0 Functions and Values of the Cairngorm Estate. 2.1 Strategic Value of the Estate for the Protection of Natural Resources and Sustainable Development of Tourism Over a Wider Area It is a primary principle of the protection of vulnerable mountain areas that the capacity to protect them effectively succeeds or fails in the degree to which development is limited and guided within the surrounding foothills and adjacent valleys. This principle has been well established through international experience. This is why zoning of development is accepted globally as an approach to the management of such mountain areas. The foothills act as a buffer zone between major developments and vulnerable protected areas. Such buffer zones are recognised world wide as being of major strategic importance in the management of the relationship between the protection of vulnerable areas of high nature conservation value and the development of nearby tourist areas. Within them, limited development is permitted in a manner that protects the core zones and also permits sustainable development. The Central Cairngorms are an example of such a highly valued, but vulnerable, mountain area. In much of the area, the core zone is surrounded by such foothills, except at Glenmore. Here, low ground extends directly towards the core zone and then, within the HIE Estate, ascends fully to the edge of the most vulnerable zone, the Central Cairngorms Massif, which forms the southern boundary of the Estate. At the same time, the qualities of scenery, the diversity of recreational opportunity, as outlined in Section 2.2, and the area’s proximity to Aviemore and the wider local tourist industry, have ensured that it has developed a central role in the local tourist industry with, for example, the Loch Morlich beach becoming the most visited summer attraction in Badenoch and Strathspey Glenmore, including the HIE estate, forms the buffer zone between major tourist development and the protection of the Central Cairngorms. It follows that the whole of Glenmore, upper and lower sections including the HIE estate, form a key land unit in this respect and therefore in the future successful operation of the Cairngorms National Park as a whole in meeting its four basic functions. However, rather than having limited development within it, as would be the case in a normal buffer zone, there has been intensive development to the edge of the Cairngorms National Nature Reserve. These developments, the construction of roads, and ski infrastructure, including the funicular railway, have greatly increased ease of access for large numbers of people and heightened pressures on vulnerable environments. Hence the future management and any further development of the HIE estate as part of this buffer zone is particularly difficult and potentially contentious, and requires the most skilled and careful supervision and direction. 5 2.2 Inherent Values and Overall Cohesion of the HIE Estate and the FCS’s Estate in Lower Glenmore In addition to its strategic importance, the HIE Estate has a high inherent value for science and conservation, as well as for landscape, outdoor recreation, and education. Furthermore, the areas of land which carry these values exist in a continuum that encompasses both the lower ground owned by the current FCS, the HIE Estate and the plateau beyond 2.2.1 Value for Science and Conservation. Repeated studies have established the high scientific and conservation value of the area. Ecologically, since it stretches from the tundra of the high Cairngorms plateau to the forest valley floor, it spans the major altitudinal range of plant, animal and landforms of the Scottish uplands. After examining the most extensive body of information assembled on the area to date, the Reporter, in his conclusions of the report of the 1981 Lurcher’s Gully Public Inquiry (3), stated, “The scientific interest of the Cairngorms in their entirety is more important that that of the parts, valuable though the parts may be. While 20 years ago it was thought satisfactory to place statutory designations on the plateaux – the unquestionably unique areas of the massif – the importance of the concept of site completeness has come to be emphasized both because the characteristics of the plateau will not survive man-induced change in the immediately surrounding terrain and because the study and appreciation, whether structural or biological, of the Cairngorms must be that of an entity ranging from the valley floor to the highest top. This view has my support because the basis is logical.” After further studies on the area some fifteen years later, Watson et al.